Dan Severn Offers His Take on Jeff Blatnick's Hall of Fame Induction

UFC Hall of Famer Dan Severn (101-19-7) hopes that his friend and former American gold medalist Jeff Blatnick is inducted into the hall of fame as well. Blatnick died October 24 following complications from heart surgery. Severn cites Blatnick's contribution to creating rules and judges as one of main reasons the sport is still around.

"The sport evolved a great deal as the rules came in and the rules had to come in," said Severn to MMA Junkie. "Otherwise, we'd be talking about the sport in the past tense."

The two last saw each other September 15 at a World Cup of MMA event in Connecticut. Blatnick was a judge and Severn an athletic commissioner for the event.

"We always had great respect for each other – camaraderie, history," Severn said. "It's one thing to meet people, but I sweated on the mats with Jeff. We went through hard workouts together."

ADVERTISEMENT

Thanks for watching!

Severn was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2005. He was the sole name inducted that year. In April, Severn earned his 101st victory. He stated earlier in the year he plans to retire by 2012, but still hopes for one big name fight.